I've been a bit off on posting lately. The reasons I stated a few posts earlier - I'm still in my slower time of year (but that will change as the weather improves), and I'm busy catching up on the things I've been meaning to do. One of those things is Erin's website. I've promised for over a year to complete it for her - and I just did! One day after her birthday!
Well, I haven't posted this week because I've been attending the local SWPPA convention in Arlington (the national was in January, this is the regional). While I did very well in print competition, the convention was too close to the national convention in January - and I feel like I blew a whole week schmoozing with other photographers. I'm a little frustrated right now.
Anyway, 3 out of 4 of my prints "merited" - which basically means they were good enough to show in the convention exhibit (about 40% of the over 700 total images from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Colorado merited and were shown). I scored the highest score I've ever achieved, and I won two "Distinguished Print" awards and one "Judge's Choice Ribbon". There were 5-6 "Distinguished Prints" in the "Portraits by a Master Photographer" category, and I won 2 of them - so I felt good about that.
Here they are - the first is titled "Girl, Interrupted". It won a DP and was my high score. The second is "The Magician of Sound". It won a DP and the Judge's Choice Ribbon. The third is "The Rendezvous" - it merited. The fourth print (not shown) was actually a back-up - I really wanted to enter a senior portrait I did, but I wasn't happy with the printing itself. I'll probably enter that one at the national competition later in the year.
Anyway, it was a good experience, but boy do I feel like I lost a week. I'll be posting four portrait sessions in the next two days.
We're back!
We had a wonderful time visiting family, seeing our old haunts, and attending the PPA convention in Tampa. Here are some images: Erin and our nephew Brendan on Christmas, my mom and dad's Christmas tree, Annapolis on New Year's Eve, Mama Lou and our newest nephew Alistair, Alistair with Mom, Alistair on Mom's shoulder, Alistair on an upset moment, on a happy moment, The King's Arms Tavern in Williamsburg (I worked as a host and waiter there for almost four years in college), my friend Mark Mollner's daughter Madeline while we were indoor rock climbing, our niece Archer, Archer looking out her home's window, myself and Archer, my brother Mike, Mike, Archer, and Carter, the view outside our hotel window in Tampa, Erin and I at Disney World, and a familiar sight at Epcot.
I was also shooting with a new (but old) camera of mine. I've become fascinated by 3D photography lately, and I recently found and bought a Viewmaster camera on Ebay. It's a camera made in the fifties that takes the slides that can be put into Viewmaster reels. Here's a link of the camera itself (the reels from the trip will be at my studio soon).
I happen to be married to my best friend. I'm so lucky to find myself in a marriage with a deepening love, affection, and appreciation as the years pass. Here are a few recent images of Erin - preparing for her 'Amethyst' concert at the Pocket, during the 'Amethyst' concert (she performed and sang her own compositions, mostly from her new album), at Texas Stadium before the McNamara shoot, an image from a class I gave to other photographers about lighting, during a family trip in Arkansas, on the cruise to Cozumel, visiting Williamsburg with Mark, on Mom and Dad's boat, and an unused promo photo for 'Amethyst'.
We'll be on the road heading back to Dallas by today. The next post will include some images from the trip itself, and then I'll be posting Cara Williams's senior portrait session!
Well, the convention has ended and we will be headed back to Dallas very soon (like I've written earlier, these entries were done before Christmas and are auto-posting while we're on our trip).
But first, we thought we'd go to Disney World for a day and a half. It's where we spent most of our honeymoon, so it should be fun to see what's new and reminisce about what is familiar. Here's an image from our honeymoon in 1994. Objects may appear younger, thinner, and with more hair.
Valecia and I did another concept shoot earlier in 2007, and I basically need to pick one of the images below for print competition in 2008. This is a sort of 'variations on a theme'. The concept for the shoot was rooted in news reports at the time about the sexualization of youth - how children are being exposed to sexuality at an earlier and earlier age, and how they're basically being indoctrinated by peer pressure and the media. So, the shoot basically contains my own thoughts on the subject. The model is Layne D'Angelo.
Okay, it should be official now. I'm not technically allowed to post this until the awards banquet - which is this evening.
2008 is a banner year for myself in two ways - one, I just received my 'Master of Photography' status from the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) this evening, and two, I am the President of the Dallas PPA for 2008.
The first honor is a goal I've had since I started as a professional portrait photographer. It's an achievement earned only by a very small fraction of portrait photographers in the country, and only a handful in Dallas, and it's basically earned by doing very well in the PPA print competitions over an extended period of time and by being an active member of the PPA for several years.
The second honor wasn't a goal of mine, but I am happy to serve an organization that I believe strongly in. The Dallas PPA (the local guild of the PPA) meets on a monthly basis, and it has monthly speakers, but more importantly, it is a powerful networking tool for professional photographers in the area. The goal of the guild, in a nutshell, is to keep each other at the top of their game in service and image quality and support each other in advice and action. We're competitors, naturally, but the Dallas PPA is THE best way to make sure the competition is friendly.
No photos today!
From left to right, top to bottom: my beautiful wife, from my own promo headshot shoot (photographed by my good friend, Elena Hernandez), setting up during the Chromatic Aberration shoot, motivating a client to smile (maybe that approach didn't work), during Erin's Optimystic shoot, at the old studio, shooting a UT frat party for my friend, Arnie Levine of TOP Photo, Erin on a cruise to Cozumel, myself on the same cruise, ditto, a photo of the two of us at a dance I was photographing, and another image of Erin and I at a high school band dance I covered.
The PPA (Professional Photographers of America) is holding their annual convention this year in Tampa - so that's where we are! I try to attend every year, but this happens to be a very special year for me individually (more about that on the 8th).
The convention as a whole is a great way for me to keep my finger on the pulse of the photographic industry, and there are seminars in addition to a superb trade show and print exhibit. Four of my own images will be appearing in the show - and here they are! The first is entitled 'Almost Forever', and it's a bridal portrait of Kristin Yager. The second is 'Black Dahlia', from a forties era concept shoot with Valecia. The third is another concept shoot with V, and it's called 'Chromatic Aberration'. It's basically a joke for photographers. Chromatic aberration is a photographic term and I wanted to illustrate it with another sort of chromatic aberration. Too geeky? Ah well - it was a lot of fun to photograph. The last is 'Nocturne' and is a wedding image of Travis and Kambrie Sanderfer. 'Nocturne' is going to be in the Loan section of the exhibit, which means it's among the best of the best, and it will be printed in the PPA's annual Loan Collection book.
By this time, we're surely missing our own 'child', Ibiki. She's currently staying with Pets Are Inn, a wonderful concept business that finds a temporary home of pet lovers for pet owners. Here are some images of Ibiki over the last couple of years. The last is a cell phone photo.
We'll be with my brother, Mike, and his family in Charlotte, NC, today. The first three images are from our trip to Charlotte in 2005, and the remainder are from our visit with Mike, Carter, and little miss Archer after Christmas last year. I'm sorry, but I have the cutest niece on the planet.
Mike and I both have blond hair, blue eyes, and err, another thing in common. (Waving hypnosis watch over your eyes - you do not see the hair line, you do not see the hair line, you do not....oh forget it).
Mark Mollner is my good friend whom I met as we were freshmen in college. We roomed together for three years, and have stayed in touch since we graduated. Mark stayed in Williamsburg, but I followed Erin to Texas. The first image is from a cruise Erin and I took with Mark and his wife, Nancy, 4-5 years ago, and the remaining are images of Mark and his family.
We'll be with the Mollners today! (Like I mentioned previously, these posts were actually done before Christmas and are updating themselves on a scheduler).
One of Erin's and my favorite places in the world is the small area centering on the Wren Building in Colonial Williamsburg. It's where we met, attended college, and really started our lives as young adults. Naturally, we have a lot of fond memories there.
We're planning on spending the day today walking around campus and CW, and then hopefully drinking Liebotschaner Ale and/or eating peanuts at Gambol's in Chowning's Tavern.
Here are some images from a previous trip to Williamsburg in 2005. The first is Swem Library - I spent countless hours pretending to study there. The second is Crim Dell (to alumni, yes, Erin and I did kiss on the bridge). The third is a statue of Thomas Jefferson, another alumnus. The fourth is the Wren Building, the oldest college building in continuous use in the U.S., the fifth is my freshman dorm, and the last image is the freshman dorm's t-shirt I drew for residents (I was a cartoonist during that time and in high school). Like all cartoons, there's a fair bit of exaggeration, but there are also several inside jokes.
A few months ago, I mentioned in the blog about updating the price list. That's still definitely happening, but I got so busy with my current work that I wasn't able to incorporate it as soon as I intended. My intention is to start the new prices in 2008, and I'll post more about that when we return from our trip.
The past year has been all about changes: we changed our location, changed from the concept of shooting in the studio with lights and backdrops into doing all natural light with real furniture and settings, changed our proofing system to private viewings, and changed even little things like the way we do framing. In 2008, I'm going to be continuing with the changes - some just as radical as last year's. More will follow on that later, but for any photographers out there who are familiar with how I shoot, one of the big changes for me shooting-wise is that I intend to go from all tripod shooting to 90% hand-holding shooting.
The changes have not been for change's sake - but a response to the simple fact that the portrait and wedding photography business is undergoing its most radical change in at least 50 years with the advent of the digital age - and that's tied in with other major changes due to the internet. Professional photographers everywhere are scrambling to stay apace, and as one of them, all I can ask is that you all have patience with us.
That said, I believe that all areas of my own business and photographic work are at least equal if not far superior to what I was offering five years ago - when digital was still something in the future rather than the present.
Those who have seen the new studio might find these images interesting - they're what the studio looked like just before I started moving in:
In September, Valecia Sarmento and I did one of our concept shoots. We both do so for our portfolios, but I also do the shoots for print competitions and as a way of exploring new photographic techniques. By trying something new and different for myself, I find I can then add something new and different to my client work afterwards.
This September the concept was to create an album about a simple love story between two clowns. The location, naturally, was the State Fair. I still have a lot of work to do to get the album ready, but here are a few images from the shoot itself!
Most of these are from the past year - a handful are from the past 2-3 years. They are images I've taken quickly on shoots, some from moments noticed of a sudden, and some from vacations.
From left to right and top to bottom: the moon over Lake Ray Hubbard, hurricane damage from Katrina in Biloxi (this was a church - they're re-locating), another image from Biloxi, the bats in Austin, a detail from the spring, Joel Osteen's church in Houston, a lovely feller from Crowley Park in Richardson, a statue in Southlake, the sky over the Garland studio one evening, another sky image from the old studio, an intriguing critter from the circus in Rockwall, Chichen Itza, the deck of the Elation (Carnival Cruises), another image of the circus setting up in Rockwall, and a panorama image of Erin's parents' back yard (I want to start experimenting with panorama images in the future).
Mom and Dad live in Annapolis, MD, and they love it there. One reason is that my dad has always been drawn to the water. For years, as he worked for the government as a civil engineer, he said he would get a boat when he retired. I don't know why I had my doubts, I suppose because he said it for so long, but sure enough, when he retired he and Mom bought a boat and took to exploring the Chesapeake. They're on their third 'upgrade', called the Odyssey.
The first image is of my dad with his brother, Bob, and their dad (my grandfather). The image is probably from the early fifties, and I've always liked the atmosphere of the photo. The second is another family portrait, taken just before I started working as a professional photographer. The third is Mom and Dad during Laura's wedding. The last three are from a trip on the Odyssey in 2006.
Erin and I will also be visiting Erin's good friend, Carolyn, and her family around this time. Here's an image of Carolyn as she was expecting Dax - whom we'll meet in person this trip!
Mary Lou Herndon, whom I've called Mama Lou all my life, has taught me many things, but I think the first is the responsibility to hold up one's head in all conditions. She is the definition of the tough Texas woman. She lived in Mansfield until recently, and she now lives near my parents and my uncle's family outside D.C., and turned 93 this year.
The first image is of my grandmother, probably taken in the forties. The second is a 16x20 montage print I made for her a while back using family photos. The third and fourth are images taken in her home in Mansfield - I have many fond childhood memories of it. The last two are from a recent trip to visit my parents and Mama Lou.
We're on the way today, driving to see my family on the East Coast. We're going to be out of town for 17 days, getting back on the evening of January 12th (although our first day back at the studio will be the 14th).
The first stop is my parents home in Annapolis, but a big part of the excitement this trip is that we'll see my newest nephew, Alistair George Ivanov - my sister's first child. He was born on December 20th, weighing 9 pounds. The first image below is probably my first attempt at family portraiture. It's my family, taken when I was 18 or so. The second is my sister, Laura, and her husband, George Ivanov, during their wedding a few years ago. And the last is an image my dad just emailed me of Alistair.
Here are some images from last year's Christmas with Erin's family. The young man is Bryce, Erin's and my nephew, who made an appearance in the blog previously (Brendan was still on the way!), and you'll also see Erin's mom and dad - Mike and Anne McGrew. I'd show images images from this year's Christmas, but like I said before, these posts were actually written before the 24th and are on a scheduler to update themselves. Pretty fancy, no?
The 26th has always been one of my favorite days of the holiday season. It's the day when everyone gets to relax, hang out, and maybe play with a few new toys. Erin and I are at her parents house today, hopefully just spending the day watching movies.
Erin has been the music director of 'Scrooge' at the Pocket Sandwich Theatre for 11 years running this year. David Lambert has played the role of Scrooge for even longer. The first five images are from this year's show, and the last is a promo image of David I took a few years ago. It's the competition print version of it. It's also the lowest scoring print I've ever submitted. Oh well, I still like it.
Merry Christmas to one and all!
Erin and I are going to be on an extended trip this holiday season. We're going to be with Erin's parents in Rockwall on the 25th and 26th, then we'll drive to see my parents in Annapolis. We'll get to meet my one week old nephew, Alistair George Ivanov, visit with my sister and her husband, we'll drive down to Williamsburg to visit our old college and to see my good friend, Mark, and his family, we'll continue to Charlotte to see my brother and his family, we'll drive to Tampa for the annual PPA (Professional Photographers of America) convention, we'll go to Disney World for a day and a half, then we'll head home. That's some serious mileage, but we like road trips, and we're really looking forward to it.
In the meantime, I've set the blog to automatically update each day. I'll be posting about myself and my family rather than my client work. I get so busy the rest of the year to really write about myself, and I'm pretty much a guy who holds his cards close to the chest, but this will be a chance to share a little about who I am and what's going on in my life. To those interested in reading these, happy holidays to you!
These images are from an interesting party that was held at the Hickory Street Annex this year. The theme was 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' and the budget for the party was rumored to be $100,000. The party had Oompa Loompas and a Willy Wonka impersonator, and they took four days to set it up. I wasn't the photographer for the event, ah well, but I did get these images of the set-up before the party started:
